How smarter health checks are uncovering missing patients and the undiagnosed
Nigel Abramow, Health Smart Ltd
Smart Heart Score, Health Smart's innovative computerised health check system is enabling the national NHS Health Checks programme to reach communities, complementing the targeted work of local GPs. The system is already a hit in Islington, where the community model is succeeding in meeting demanding targets, especially in deprived areas. On top of finding unregistered patients, the community based NHS Health Checks programme is identifying people at high risk of a heart attack or stroke and diabetes.
Cut false positives and increase outcomes
Designed by clinicians, Smart Heart Score eliminates false positives generated by white coat syndrome and reduces the need for further testing by automatically taking three blood pressure readings. Results have shown that 60% of people have a lower second or third blood pressure than the first.
In Islington, Health Smart has incorporated HbA1c testing into the NHS Health Check, which eliminates the need for time consuming recalls. This enables detection of people with a high risk of diabetes, providing an opportunity to provide brief interventions on lifestyle advice to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes and costlier interventions. In all, 98% of those checked had a warning measurement that may have gone unnoticed.
"Health Smart is helping us meet the capacity
needs that we have"
Ian Sandford, Public Health Strategist, NHS Islington
Whilst many PCTs are struggling to meet the tough government NHS Health Check targets, Health Smart is helping NHS Islington meet theirs. The community pilot scheme, which uses opportunistic checks in supermarkets and localcentres, has been particularly successful in reaching out to all sectors of the borough's richly diverse population, particularly people who might not otherwise have seen a GP. In one location alone, 10 people a day were discovered to be unregistered with a GP. The Smart Heart Score system can also be surgery based, with results linked directly into the clinical system.
"The data helps us shape services and I can get
access to it in real time"
Chrystal Greenwood Assistant Public Health Strategist, NHS Islington
The online system is easily operated by nurses and HCA's, freeing up valuable GP time in the surgery. The health check data can be securely uploaded to the patient's record, which means no manual inputting. The system produces anonymised collated data in a form designed to help inform future policy and allocation of services.
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